• Hecate

    Pronunciation

    • RP enPR: hĕʹkÉ™tÄ“, IPA: /ˈhÉ›kÉ™tiː/
    • US IPA: /ˈhÉ›kÉ™ti/
    • Early Modern English
    Dictionary.com

    Alternative forms

    various rare or obsolete forms

    Origin

    Perhaps from Ancient Greek Ἑκατη, the feminine equivalent of Ἑκατός, an obscure epithet of Apollo, variously interpreted as "one who works/operates from afar", "one who drives off",

    Charles Anthon, A Classical Dictionary (Harper & Brothers, 1869)

    "the far reaching one" or "the far-darter".

    P. E. Wheelwright, Metaphor and Reality (1975, ISBN 0-253-20122-5)

    Alternatively, some suggest that the name derives from the Ancient Greek word for "will".

    Jenny Strauss Clay, in Hesiod's Cosmos (Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-521-82392-7), lists a number of researchers who associate Hecate's name and "will", e.g. Walcot (1958), Neitzel (1975), and Derossi (1975); she identifies "the name and function of Hecate as the one 'by whose will' prayers are accomplished and fulfilled". This interpretation also appears in Liddell and Scott's A Greek English Lexicon.

    Full definition of Hecate

    Proper noun

    Hecate

    (plural Hecates)
    1. The powerful goddess, in Greek mythology, of crossroads, fire, light, the moon, and the underworld; equivalent to the Roman goddess Trivia.

    Anagrams

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